Urban sprawl affects McLaren Vale

An urban development project is encroaching on the Australian region ofMcLaren Vale in an undeveloped area that is “possibly the finest undeveloped vineyard site in Australia”.

Over 170 hectares known as Seaford Heights, which is state owned, is open to development. 70ha have already been contracted out to the region’s largest home-builder Fairmont Homes, although specific plans have not yet been granted state approval.

This stretch of land, currently shared land for cereal crops, forms a barrier between the suburbs of Seaford and the vineyards of Paxton, Chalk Hill and Pertaringa in McLaren Vale.

Furthermore, the site is also made up of 650 million-year-old Neoproteozoic geological formations. This type of land is only repeated in the Greenock/Seppeltsfeld area of Barossa and in Polish Hill in Clare Valley.

It is believed, when the other sites’ quality is considered, that Seaford Heights has the potential to be the “finest undeveloped vineyard site of this size in a viticultural area in Australia and possibly the world.”

In addition, the government has been fully aware of the site’s geological importance for 40 years and two years ago the McLaren Vale Grape Wine and Tourism Association (MVGWTA) commissioned a geological map of the area plotting all its vineyards and soil and rock formations.

Fairmont Homes and the local government recently took out planning permission to build “big box retail” such as hardware, grocery and furniture stores along a nearby stretch of road and 1,200 homes for roughly 2,500 people.

It would appear, however, that in the hundreds of pages of planning documents no mention or thought was given to the site’s effect on the McLaren Vale grape food and wine industry.

Dudley Brown, chairman of the MVGWTA, said in a statement: “Nor was there any logical or physical attempt to integrate this new development into the existing grape wine and food tourism economy of the McLaren Vale region. It’s just more suburbs bumping right into vineyards.”

The community was apparently not informed of the project until the obligatory “community consultation” period at the end of planning. Even then the MVGWTA only became aware of the procedure two days before it ended, allowing them to raise their concerns.

As a result the local government of the city of Onkaparinga have rejected the planning proposal labelling the land as “rural” rather than “residential”.

However, this means that the entire decision has been handed back to Paul Holloway the planning minister, who will make a decision in mid-October as to whether or not the proposal is worth pursuing.

The case bears strong resemblances to other building projects versus vineyard stories, notably the on-going Mosel bridge saga and the proposed opening of mines in Stellenbosch, which the drinks business followed at the beginning of the year.

There is a Facebook group entitled “We Oppose Seaford Heights” and Holloway can be contacted on minister.holloway@sa.gov.au for those wishing to voice their concerns.

Rupert Millar, 07.10.2010